Mr. Cantamessa is a big old, a Eleganza e stile in days, even in the way he looks at you in your eyes. A man of the last century and still retains, in a drawer, the first photo he made to his wife Felicita.
Looks like it came from a photograph. Watching him well and cancellandogli the signs of aging, is the same (tuft including), of the self in a small mirror that was made in the 60s. Un #selfie ante litteram.
To succeed in the picture as its, nette and need, nothing to envy because Cartier Bresson, not only passion but it takes a true balance, who fails to grasp the secret harmony between the subject and the environment in which it is located and the ability to paint with light.
Approaching from an early age to photography, to seventeen, began to attend the Association of Turin Photo Subalpina, starting from a small country town, with the run. Formative experience that led him to learn the compositional, content, the choice of subjects, to know Prieri, fotografo dotato di una cultura immensa e di una raffinatezza incredibile: producing sophisticated images, Ardite for the time (eg: a vine leaf with bottles in front, certainly less of the usual ordinary landscapes with sheep grazing in the meadows). "He taught me the culture of style and taste" recalls Mr. Cantamessa.
And he must have learned well, the allievi, seeing in 1957 get an acknowledgment of the Fédération Internationale de l'Photographic Art in Berne for photos and merits in 1961 the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris acquired one of his works.
During those years came a welcome gift from his wife, girlfriend at the time: his first camera. Una sottomarca della Bencini che costava quattordici lire.
Just needed more darkroom to complete the work: built it from him and placed it in a basement, where the musty smell was mixed with the acid for the development. Odors that, today, in the digital age and social, make it even more fascinating to remember that a picture is born, little by little, from a sheet of white paper.
So it was that they took a lot of body image, a display at the Galleria La Stampa, next to that of Werner Bischof (one of the founders of Magnum). Other, instead, ended up in a drawer, and every once in a basket, saved by his wife. Then came the time of retirement, and with it, whole day to devote to his passion.
His photos so they start shooting in the Italian club photos, participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the one in New York at the Keith de Lellis Gallery, and arrive even Americans find, in the house of Bricklehampton (in the province of Turin), to buy, affected by the works strictly in black and white, where there is no room for unnecessary. I wonder why this reluctance towards color…: "I tried, in the 80s, to use colors. But it was the most gray of all my activities. Per me, black and white, are the most beautiful colors"Says.
Also fascinated by royalty subjects, in ordinary life, Special in his photographs, such as those of a “Varia umanità senza ipocrisia”, that tells a slice of life social, economic and cultural life from the postwar years until today, both in its implications happy, is most unusual in the folds, by always focusing on the man and his dignity, on display until 13 April at the Civic Collection of Art Palace Vittone e la Losano Gallery Association Art and Culture of Pinerolo (Turin).
Augustus CANTAMESSA
Born in Turin in 1927. He lives in a nice house in the Piedmont countryside, with his wife Felicity.
Photographing since he was a boy.
In 2002 la galleria Keith De Lellis di New York compra le sue foto per esporle in una mostra organizzata dalla galleria stessa. (www.keithdelellisgallery.com ). For the occasion Cantamessa goes to New York. His first time in the metropolis of skyscrapers.
Photo: Augusto Cantamessa courtesy Losano Gallery Association Art and Culture (Pinerolo)
of Erica Vagliengo
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